Most dangerous prisoners 'to serve longer sentences'

Thursday 20 July 2006 09.54 EDT
First published on Thursday 20 July 2006 09.54 EDT

The home secretary, John Reid, today announced the abolition of early release schemes for Britain's most dangerous prisoners as part of wide-ranging changes to the criminal justice system designed to put the rights of victims ahead of those of the offender.

Describing his reforms as a "re-balancing" of the criminal justice system, Mr Reid announced plans to provide an additional 8,000 prison places among a 24-point package of changes, including longer sentences for the most serious offenders.

Mr Reid promised his shake-up of the criminal justice system, to be confirmed in a white paper this autumn, would put "law-abiding people, victims and the community first".

He said he would abolish early release schemes for Britain's most dangerous prisoners to ensure they spend longer behind bars. Judges will no longer be required to automatically halve the minimum term when setting the earliest release date for those serving indeterminate sentence.

Mr Reid told MPs the automatic one-third sentence discount for people who were "caught red-handed and who pleaded guilty" would also be removed. The automatic discount offered to those re-sentenced on appeal will also go.

The decision to alter sentencing policy follows widespread calls for change after a judge gave the paedophile Craig Sweeney a life sentence, but told him he would be eligible for parole after just five years.

At the time, Mr Reid denounced the decision as too lenient, but it was later shown that the judge was acting in accordance with the guidelines.

The home secretary also confirmed that a prison expansion programme would see 8,000 extra places to "keep dangerous offenders in for longer", as well as making "better use of tagging" for those guilty of less serious crimes. "We will make sure we have the places we need to protect the public," he said.

Prompted by the furore that erupted over the Home Office failure to deport foreign prisoners, Mr Reid said he would speed up removals of some of the 10,000 non-UK nationals in British jails. "We will send more foreign nationals back to their own country", he said.

The home secretary said he would act to prevent human rights being used by offenders to secure "perverse outcomes which penalise victims and the law abiding majority" and would use legislation if necessary to ensure that "public protection" came first.

He also said that the maximum penalty for carrying a knife would be increased to four years.

Other measures in the reform package include:

· Reform of the parole board so all new members have experience of "victims issues" · Making violent offenders pay towards the healthcare costs of their victims · Ensuring frontline staff get practical advice and guidance to dispel "myths" about the Human Rights Act · Restricting the ability of the "plainly guilty" to be released on appeal due to "procedural irregularities" · Speeding up the recall to prison of those offenders who break the terms of their licence · Implementing a presumption against bail for those who abscond or offend while on bail · Sending more foreign nationals back to their own country to serve their sentences · Doing more to tackle "low-level offending and anti-social behaviour" by introducing parental compensation orders to make sure parents took responsibility for the damage caused by their children.

The shadow home secretary, David Davis, said the Conservatives welcomed most of the reforms but said the government failed to get a grip on crime despite tough sounding speeches.

Mr Davis said: "If speeches caught criminals we would have swept the streets clean of criminals. Let us hope that from this home secretary we get action, not words. This government has had nine years in office, nine years long on promises and short on delivery. We have heard it all before."

Mr Reid made his announcement in the Commons just a day after he unveiled a raft of reforms to "radically overhaul" the Home Office and make it fit for purpose.

The latest crime statistics published today show violent crime rose 2% to more than 1.2m offences, though overall rates of crime remained stable.

The British Crime Survey today revealed that the murder rate for England and Wales fell for a third successive year from a peak of 1,047 in 2002, when the 172 murders committed by Harold Shipman were included.

Street robberies rose by 8% and drug offences by 23%, though house burglaries fell by 7%.